In today's demand for governmental transparency by the press and others, the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has overwhelmed local governments and has demanded a basic understanding of the Act at all levels of government.

To understand who can request information and what can be released is vital to the operation of government. Equally as important is to be clear on the exceptions to the Act and the penalties for non-compliance.

Training Class Basic Agenda:

*Brief overview of the Act

*The Act itself

*Compliance with the Act, the requestor and the law

*Case study and application

*Standardization of review, redaction and response

*Digital redaction

*Practical responses

*Conclusion

INSTRUCTOR:

James O. Branson III is the in-house counsel for the City of Midland, Michigan. He has been the full time City Attorney for the past 17 years. Before entering his current position he was in private practice for 11 years where he worked in most areas of the law including handling criminal, civil, federal, municipal and township issues. As part of his current duties, he is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Coordinator for the City of Midland where his office handles approximately 600 individual FOIA requests per year. Outside of FOIA requests he has handled in excess of 16,000 cases in both local, state and federal courts. Mr. Branson has been active on a number of boards and an active member of the Michigan Bar Association, American Bar Association and the International Municipal Lawyers Association. He was also awarded the 2007 Distinguished Municipal Attorney Award for the State of Michigan. Mr. Branson is admitted to practice in state, federal courts and also the United States Supreme Court.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Members of the criminal justice and legal community (sworn or non-sworn), administrators, FOIA Coordinators and support staff. Students are encouraged to bring a laptop but it is not a requirement.